Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on expressing ability in the past.There are two ways of expressing ability in English. One, “can” or “could”. Two, “be able to”. In negative sentences, there’s no difference in meaning. So, “I couldn’t lift the piano” and “I wasn’t able to lift the piano” mean the same thing. However, in affirmative sentences about past ability, “could” usually means “used be able to”. The use of “could” usually indicates that the ability existed in the past, but does not exist now.For example, “When I was young, I could run fast” means that I can not run fast now. On the other hand, if the speaker is talking about an ability to do something at one particular time in the past, “was/were able to” can be used in affirmative sentences, but “could” cannot.For example, your car broke down. It stopped working. So you took it to get fixed two days ago. When I saw you today, you told me that the mechanic fixed your car. If you said, “The mechanic could fix my car yesterday”, that sentence is not correct. You must say, “The mechanic was able to fix my car yesterday” or “The mechanic managed to fix my car yesterday.”Let’s look at another example. I have been looking for a CD I like for a long time. I could not find it. I was not able to find it for a long time. But yesterday I was able to find it. Yesterday I managed to find it. But you cannot say, “Yesterday I could find it.”Remember “I could not” and “I was not able to” are the same, but “I could” and “I was able to” are not the same. “I could” means I used to be able to, but now I’m not able to. “I was able to” means I have the ability at one particular time in the past.This has been today’s daily tip on learning English. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.

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美语听力与发音技巧 第32期（使役动词）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the causative verbs “make”, “have” and “get”, and the verb “let”.Let’s look at some examples. “I made my brother carry my suitcase.” “I had my brother carry my suitcase.” “I got my brother to carry my suitcase.” “I let my brother carry my suitcase.” “make”, “have” and “get” can be used to express the idea that “X” causes “Y” to do something.When they are used with this meaning, they’re similar but not identical. “I made him carry my suitcase” means I give him no choice. I insisted or forced him to do it. “I had him carry my suitcase” means that he did it just because I asked him. I didn’t have to insist. “I got him to carry my suitcase” means I managed to persuade my brother to carry my suitcase. I didn’t insist. I persuaded him, possibly by offering to give him something or do something for him. “I let him carry my suitcase” means he wanted to carry my suitcase. He asked me if he could, and I said “OK”. I give him my permission to do it.Chinese learners of English often use “let” when they should use “make”. Remember that “make” is similar to “force”, and only if you do not want to do it can someone make you do it. And remember that “let” is similar to “allow” or “permit”, and only if you need someone’s permission to do it, and you want to do it can someone let you or not let you do it.Also be careful with using the verbs “let”, “make”, and “have” with these meanings. Say “let me do it”. Do not say “let me to do it”. Say “make him do it”, do not say “make him to do it”. And say “have her do it”, do not say “have her to do it”. This has been today's daily tip on learning English. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.

]]>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:31:01 GMT

美语听力与发音技巧 第31期（try 的用法）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the difference in meaning between “try to do something” and “try doing something”.“try” plus an infinitive, that is, “to” plus a verb, such as “try to learn” “try to open” “try to read” means to make an effort to do it. “try” plus a gerund, that is, verb-ing, such as “try opening”, “try turning on”, “try giving” means to experiment with a new or different approach to see if it works.Let’s look at some examples. “I’m trying to learn Taiwanese.” This means I’m making an effort to do it. I’m taking a Taiwanese class, doing my homework and speaking in Taiwanese whenever I can. Here’s another example. “I tried to open the window.” This sentence means I pulled the window up, but it did not go up, so I pushed the window up, but it still did not open. I made an effort to open the window, but I could not open it. On the other hand, “I tried opening the window” means that I did open the window and that I opened it for a reason. I was hot and I wanted to cool off. I tried opening the window, but that didn’t help. So I tried turning on the fan, but I was still hot. So I tried taking off some of my clothes, but that didn’t work either. Finally, I turned on the air conditioner, and that finally succeeded in helping me cool off. I experimented with many things to see what would work.So remember, “try to do something” is to make an effort, and “try doing something” is to experiment with different way to achieve your purpose. This has been today’s daily tip on learning English. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.

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美语听力与发音技巧 第30期（stop 的用法）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the difference in meaning between “stop doing something” and “stop to do something”.“stop doing something” means not to do that any more, but “stop to do something” means stop one thing in order to do something else.Let’s look at a clear example. “We stopped dancing.” “We stopped to get some drinks.” These sentences can even be put together to form “We stopped dancing to get some drinks.” Is the meaning clear? We were dancing but we got hot and thirsty, so we stopped. Why? Because we wanted to get some drinks. After we stopped, we got some drinks. Before we stopped, we were dancing. So, can you hear the difference in meaning between these two sentences? “We stopped to study” and “We stopped studying”. The first sentence “We stopped to study” means we are studying now. We were doing something else, maybe talking or watching TV, but we stopped doing that in order to study. On the other hand, the second sentence “We stopped studying” means we are not studying now. We were studying before but we stopped, maybe because we were tired or hungry.Let’s take another example. “We stopped talking” and “We stopped to talk”. “We stopped talking” means it is quiet now because we are not talking anymore. “We stopped to talk” means we are talking now. Maybe we were walking on the sidewalk, saw each other, and stopped walking so that we can talk for a while.So remember to be careful when choosing the verb form after “stop” as it changes the meaning of the sentence. This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.

]]>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:29:11 GMT

美语听力与发音技巧 第29期（regret 的用法）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the difference in meaning between “regret to do something” and “regret doing something”.Let’s take an example. What’s the difference between “I regret to tell you that your father died” and “I regret telling you that your father died”? Well, “I regret to tell”, “I regret to say” are used to inform someone of bad news in a polite way. Before you tell someone bad news, it’s polite to warn the person that he is about to get some bad news by telling him you feel sorry about it. “regret to” must be followed by a verb which means “say”, for example, “tell”, “inform”, “announce”, “report”. Verbs that do not have this meaning cannot be used. On the other hand, “regret doing something” means you wish you had not done something. So, “I regret telling you that your father died” means you wish you have not told someone his father died. Maybe, because after hearing the bad news, he tried to kill himself. Or maybe because it was a mistake and his father had not actually died.Let’s look at another example. “I regret to inform you that the basketball game has been cancelled.” In this sentence, I’m telling someone some bad news. The bad news is that there will be no basketball game tonight. Here’s another example. “I regret eating so much.” This sentence means that I ate too much in the past, and now, I wish I had not eaten so much.So, if you have to tell someone bad news, say “I regret to tell you…” But if you wish you had not done something, say “I regret doing it.” And if you are glad that you did something, say “I don’t regret doing it.”This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip on learning English.

]]>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:28:16 GMT

美语听力与发音技巧 第28期（forget 的用法）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the difference in meaning between “forget doing something” and “forget to do something”.Let’s take an example. What’s the difference between “I will never forget to lock the door” and “I will never forget locking the door”? Well, “I will never forget to lock the door” is a promose to lock the door in the future. You are saying that every time you leave your home in the future, you will remember to lock the door. On the other hand, “I will never forget locking the door” means that you locked the door one time in the past. And that for some reason, the memory of locking the door that time will never be forgotten. Maybe you locked yourself into your house and couldn’t get out for a week.So, if you are reminding someone to do something in the future, say, “Don’t forget to bring your keys.” “Don’t forget to come early tomorrow.” Or “Don’t forget to turn off the TV.” On the other hand, if you are telling someome about a memory of doing something in the past that you will always remember, you say, “I will never forget seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time” or “I will never forget getting lost in Tokyo.” “forget doing something” is always used in the negative “I can’t forget” “I won’t forget” “I will never forget”. So the meaning is the same as remember doing something.Pay special care when using the word “forget”. You must choose the right form of the verb you use after it. This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.

]]>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:27:16 GMT

美语听力与发音技巧 第27期（remember 的用法）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the difference in meaning between “remember doing something” and “remember to do something”.Let’s take an example. What’s the difference between “I remember locking the door” and “I remember to lock the door”? Well, “remember doing something” means you recall doing something you did in the past, and “remember to do something” means to remember to perform a responsibility, duty or task at the proper time.So, “I remember locking the door” means in the past, I locked the door, and now, I still recall doing it. There’s still a memory in my mind. I haven’t forgotten what I did. On the other hand, “I remember to lock the door” means at the moment I leave my house, I should lock the door. At that moment, I always remember to lock the door. It’s not my habit to forget to lock the door when I leave my house. Therefore, if you are reminding someone to do something in the future, you say, “Remember to turn off the light.” “Remember to feed the dog.” “Remember to say ‘please’.” On the other hand, if you are telling someone about memory you have or don’t have, you say, for example, “I remember closing the door. Who opened it?” “I don’t remember meeting you before. Are you sure we have met?”So pay special care when using the verb “remember”, you must choose the right form of the verb you use after it. This has been today’s daily tip on learning English. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.